Building A Better World

FORD INDIA

Established in 1995, Ford in India manufactures and exports automobiles and engines made at its integrated manufacturing facility in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Sanand, Gujarat. Ford’s current range of award-winning products in India includes the Ford EcoSport, Ford Figo, Ford Aspire, Ford Endeavour and Ford Mustang. Ford Operations in India also include Global Business Services, with offices in Chennai, New Delhi, and Coimbatore. Registered as Ford Motor Pvt. Ltd. (FMPL) as a legal entity, Global Business Services provide innovative solutions to nearly every Ford locations around the world — in areas of Information Technology, Product Engineering, Finance and Accounting, Automotive Financing, Material, Planning & Logistics, Marketing Sales and Service, Analytics, and Purchasing. Ford currently employs more than 14,000 hard-working, dedicated men and women across its operations in India.

Ford’s commitment to India is not just business centric. At the heart of the company’s business plans are people and communities. With an unwavering commitment to the country and its people, Ford’s CSR initiatives are a reflection of its ‘Go Further’ journey in India.

Supporting programs that effect meaningful change and improve the quality of life in the communities in India, Ford’s three key community investment priorities revolve around: Community life, Education, Driver safety.

Community Life

Helping to strengthen the communities in which we operate is a core priority for Ford. Around the world, our efforts to improve community life include hunger relief, poverty alleviation, and environmental initiatives like water conservation.

Involved with a multiplicity of projects, Ford supports Women Empowerment Program(s) in villages close to the Chennai plant. Till date, more than 600 women have been trained in this skill over the last two years, of whom a significant number have started leveraging this as an additional source of income.

Another key program supported by Ford is The Maternal & Child Healthcare intervention in Kalvarayan Hills in Villupuram district, 300 Km from the Chennai facility. The program, already in its fourth year, is enabling access to quality healthcare for expectant mothers in the region while including community awareness initiatives that address issues here like child marriage and dropout rate amongst girls.

On healthcare, Ford has also been supporting a primary health care center – “Sanjeevi” for 18 years, providing near-free medical care to more than 500,000 people in surrounding villages since its inception. The Primary Healthcare Center also organizes various awareness camps, to reach out to the community and volunteers from Ford participate in these camps. Seeing the success and impact it created, Ford has also commissioned a project to upgrade infrastructure and facilities at a community health center in Sanand, Gujarat. Seeing the impact healthcare creates in a growing economy like India, Ford has been named as the largest Voluntary Blood Donor successively for years across its manufacturing and IT operations.

In Gujarat, India: Ford’s ‘Sujal’ (clean water) initiative in Sanand today has been working to provide safe drinking water to 55 Anganwadis (government sponsored child-care and mother-care center in India) covering 50 villages. The installations of water purifiers are benefitting more than 1700 children along with an equal or more number of villagers.

As part of sustainability focus, Ford organizes programs where water bodies in community areas are cleaned, strengthened & restored to its original capacity & beauty. The cleaning process involves removal of physical garbage from the premises. Programs of this sort showcase the amount of determination and passion that the employees have towards creating a sustainable environment. In the latest addition to the list, Ford has been working towards the scientific restoration of the Thirukachur lake, next to its Chennai facility. De-silting the lake will help improve the quality of ground water while improving the biodiversity of surrounding areas and help in increasing the survival of both flora and fauna in this region.

Focus on Education

We work with communities around the world to drive sustainable innovation in education. Aiming to provide holistic education to children studying in government-run schools, Ford launched its “Happy School” program in Chennai in September 2014. As part of the Happy Schools program, Ford partners with reputed NGOs to collectively conceptualize and design a social intervention model that addresses the identified gaps in the areas of academics, health, nutrition, and infrastructure across primary schools.

A critical component of the intervention is engagement with key stakeholders, including the management of schools, the teachers, and parents, to create a sustained support system for the child. This program is impacting lives of children across 30 schools in Chennai and Sanand, Gujarat. Ford’s focus on Girl Education with its Light House Project is addressing the issue of dropout rate amongst girls in schools.

Another important pillar of Education Ford has remained invested in India is Digital Literacy. As an important entitlement for all young people in an increasingly digital culture, Ford has been supporting the program for underprivileged communities in South India. Through the contribution of both hardware and the software, the Ford-Rotary Digital Literacy program has already empowered 82,000 people from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Driving Safety

The Ford Driving Skills for Life (Ford DSFL) program is the centerpiece of our efforts to improve driver safety. Launched in 2009 in India, the program is in keeping with Ford’s objective of creating Safe Roads and a Better World.

The program focuses on safe driving while emphasizing on maximizing the driving experience through economic and eco-friendly driving behavior (including anticipation of road conditions, applying fuel-efficient driving techniques, avoiding over-speeding and having a well-maintained vehicle). Our trainers have been a part of an intensive training conducted by global experts, who have pioneered this program for Ford Motor Company in many countries.

Year after year, the DSFL program is working towards reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries by reinforcing safe and economical driving skills and has trained more than 20,000 people in India since its launch here.

Driven by Volunteerism

Ford’s operations currently employ more than 14,000 hard-working, dedicated men and women across its operations in India which also include Global Business Services, with offices in Chennai, New Delhi, and Coimbatore.

Volunteerism has been an integral part of Ford Motor Company since its creation in 1903. We encourage our employees to participate in programs that build stronger communities through the Ford Volunteer Corps. Ford’s Global Week of Caring is one of the cornerstone programs of the Ford Volunteer Corps. It includes a week of volunteer events across all of Ford’s operating regions. In 2014, our ninth year with this program, more than 15,000 Ford employee and retiree volunteers participated in more than 320 projects in 36 countries and 17 U.S. states.